Parallel
by That Buggy Girl
Summary: It had seemed like a good idea. Frenzy knew it wasn't. How could something that could be used against you ever possibly be a good idea? Another rambling ficlet further exploring my theories about Cybertronian twins.


**Title:** Parallel  
**Word count:** 3602  
**Continuity:** G1  
**Characters:** Frenzy, Rumble, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Prowl  
**Summary:** It had seemed like a good idea. Frenzy knew it wasn't. How could something that could be used against you ever possibly be a good idea?

**par**·**al**·**lel  
****-noun  
**_something identical or similar in essential respects; match; counterpart._

**-**

"Put them in different cells-"

"-Far away from each other-"

"-So they can't talk to each other-"

"-Or see each other-"

"-Or know what's happening to each other-"

"Yeah, that!"

"Because…"

"…It'll drive them crazy!"

-

It had seemed like a good idea, at the time. Frenzy loved causing mayhem and mischief and what better way was there at the moment than to destroy the psyches of the Autobot twins? Naturally, he and Rumble had felt the need to offer their opinions on the best ways to torment the Decepticons' latest captives. They knew, after all. They were twins.

And Megatron had heeded their loud, rambling advice, placing the Lamborghini twins in detention as far away as possible from one another, complete with special systems in place to dampened their abilities to communicate over personal frequencies.

Rumble was celebrating with an extra cube of energon and a fierce digital battle in one of their favorite video games, whooping and hollering every time he achieved his goal of blowing something to pixelated smithereens.

Frenzy, on the other hand, was fidgeting, an unsettled look on his face.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Rumble didn't even bother pausing the game. He didn't spare his brother a glance, just kept pounding the buttons viciously.

"…" The red twin shook his head a little, squashing the urge to just blurt out what was wrong. He wasn't sure exactly, anyway, he just knew that something felt terribly off about this whole situation; something that he couldn't really explain. "Nothin'."

"Somethin'." Rumble replied, still without looking up from the game, "Or you'd be over here blowing things up with me." He cackled as a spray of digital blood washed across the monitor screen, then set aside the controller, creeping close to his brother and poking him in the side. "You ain't acting like we just had a major victory over the Autodorks."

"I don't feel like celebrating!" Frenzy snapped, swatting at the hand jabbing him and scowling.

"Why not?" Rumble cocked his head, studying his twin curiously. Frenzy had been on edge ever since they'd left Megatron, since Soundwave dismissed them and permitted them to take some downtime.

Frenzy didn't answer right away, instead picking up the abandoned controller and starting the next level. "I just don't, okay?" He muttered, fingers working at the buttons furiously. He didn't really know what to say, so he didn't even try to explain. It was just a…feeling that nothing good would come of this.

"Fine, fine…Whatever." Rumble knew when to give up a battle with his brother. It would be best to let this one lie until the red cassette felt like talking or they got in a scuffle or something. "Set the slaggin' thing to two players, would ya?" He poked at Frenzy again, frowning a little when the other moved a bit closer instead of telling him to keep his fraggin' hands to himself.

-

Frenzy found them fascinating, in a twisted, perverse way. He'd never before encountered Autobot twins before. In fact, he'd never really crossed paths with _any_ other twins. They were a rarity, especially during a war.

Because of this, he found himself in the brig from time to time, pacing the length from one end to the other, watching them. Rumble tagged along sometimes, mostly just to taunt and jeer; he got off on aggravating the yellow one.

It was the red one Frenzy found more interesting. He hadn't seemed much different from his brother in battle, but now…He was coming apart at the seams. The yellow one was livid; shouting obscenities when no one was around and threatening the life of any Decepticon who appeared to jeer at him, demanding to be reunited with his brother, swearing he'd make their lives hell when he got out.

He was acting like the proverbial caged animal, pacing the diminutive length of his cell, hands balled into fists at his side. He was growling and muttering under his breath, expression one of absolute rage. Every now and then he'd stop and slam a fist into the wall, the metal plating crumpling around his hand.

Frenzy had lost count of the number of dents he'd created somewhere around twenty-seven.

The red one was much worse off. He had wedged himself into a corner and curled up there, knees drawn up, face half hidden in his arms. He wasn't quite talking to himself yet, but his vocal processor clicked every now and then; the sound almost akin to the stuttering start of mumbling. Sometimes, he rocked a little, other times his fingers scrabbled at the wall as if he were trying to dig through his cell and free himself, mumbling his brother's name pitifully.

Watching him was painful, a kind of painful the smaller red mech had never before experienced. He wasn't sure why, but something about peering into the cell at him made Frenzy's spark twist in a weird, agonizing way. He once entertained the thought that he was looking at his own future, but brushed that aside, scoffing that no one would ever capture him, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to detain him long enough to leave him that pathetic.

But still…

Something about it left him with a sinking feeling.

-

"Why the slag do you keep going down there?"

Rumble was starting to think it was really, really weird that Frenzy visited the brig at least once a day, seemingly checking up on the prisoners.

"I 'unno." Frenzy shrugged, willing his twin not to make a big thing out of it, "Some one has to watch them. It seems like this was too easy." It was a lame excuse, but what was he supposed to say? He was a Decepticon; he couldn't very well admit that the whole thing freaked him out.

"Of course it was easy, you moron!" Rumble's grin was so easy; so smug, and he tucked his hands behind his head, leaning back against the wall, "They're Autobots! They're stupid."

Frenzy stopped pacing, looking over at his brother. "They can't be _that_ stupid…I've seen the way they maul 'Cracker and Skywarp. They're brutal, they're cunning, and it ain't right that we caught 'em so easy."

"They messed up." Rumble shrugged, leaning over to paw through one of several human comic books littering the ground around him. He took a moment to snicker at the pen-and-ink drawings of a bunch of squishies being slaughtered by an evil robot, then glanced back up at Frenzy. "So what're you freakin' out about?"

Frenzy was quiet for an second, then resumed his pacing in earnest; it looked to Rumble like he was determined to wear a hole through the steel plating of the floor. "What happens when they escape or get rescued?" This was stupid; it was a stupid thing to worry about! But he couldn't get the thought out of his processor once it had rooted itself there. "And what if they ever capture us? They'll know how to torture us, since we did it to them…"

"They won't capture us, idiot!"

"They've captured Ravage before!"

"We're not as stupid as Ravage!" Rumble was on his feet in a second, circling his brother, hands clenched into fists. "That's a stupid thing to say anyway, 'cause they're Autodorks and they don't _torture_ any one!"

Frenzy glared at him; rotating slowly to keep his gaze. "Do you think-" He punched Rumble in the arm, frustration and anxiety getting the best of him, "-those two care about Autobot slag? 'Cracker's had a wing ripped off and Skywarp's gotten his canopy smashed in twice and a crushed nosecone 'cause a them."

"Aww, is little Frenzy scared of the big, bad Autobots?" Rumbled laughed and Frenzy sprang at him, tackling him and throwing him down. They rolled around on the floor for a few minutes, clawing and kicking and struggling with one another, Frenzy all the while screeching that he wasn't scared, until finally Rumble managed to pin his twin, who lay beneath him squirming.

"…Fine." The red mech spat out, "Maybe I'm a little bit scared. But think about it! You've seen those two fight. D'you really think they wouldn't sink as low as us and tell Prime 'hey we can destroy these fraggers by keeping them separate?' They ain't much better'n us, Rumble. And besides…We're like them; we knew how slaggin' terrible this would be for them and still told Megatron to lock them up by themselves! We're twins, Rumble, and we're twins before we're Decepticons! "

Rumble sat back a little, looking down at his brother from where he sat perched on his midsection. Important as he may have been to Megatron -he was loyal, after all- he knew the tyrant wouldn't hesitate to leave him behind, if he thought Rumble was a liability. And he cared even less about Frenzy, who wasn't quite as effective in battle. They were small; they could be captured easily. And Rumble knew, deep down, that Frenzy was right…The Lamborghini twins wouldn't hesitate to suggest to Prime that they be jailed separately. "Fine." He folded his arms, "What do you think we should do?"

-

"Hey 'Warp." Frenzy ducked easily under Skywarp's wing, passing by him to go pay the prisoners another visit. He'd been down there often enough that no one gave him a passing glance as he stomped through the dank detention hall; they all seemed to think he enjoyed tormenting the Autobot twins as much as his brother and Frenzy didn't bother to correct that misconception.

Skywarp grunted a reply, shifting a little and folding his arms across his cockpit. He didn't understand why Megatron didn't just put the red cassette on guard duty; he was down there often enough and, slag, this was so fraggin' boring! If Frenzy Iwanted/I to be there, he shoulda been the one guarding the slaggin' glitches.

"Hey 'Warp!" Rumble's greeting was identical, if not a little more cheerful. Skywarp looked down at him; the blue twin had paused in the hallway, grinning up at him.

The seeker nodded, "Rumble." He didn't mind Rumble so much. The little bugger was good backup in a fight and he was pretty destructive. He liked taunting humans and trashing other people's property, and he was fun to get wasted with.

"Skywarp, c'mere." The little mech beckoned enticingly, a devious smirk on his face, "Got something to tell you."

Now, it was a little known fact that Skywarp was something of a gossip (though it was pretty well known that he was a gullible fool). Rumble was aware of and exploited this fact whenever he could, using Skywarp's penchant for gossip to his advantage.

As predicted, the purple and black seeker leaned forward, eager to hear the latest tidbit about one of their comrades. Rumble always had the best secrets to share, which usually resulted in blackmail and extra energon.

Rumble waited until Skywarp was close enough, then smiled sweetly, the expression all wrong on his small face. "I am _so_ sorry, Skywarp." He chirped.

Skywarp flickered his optics in confusion, head canting to the side. "Sorry? For what?"

"This!" And with that, Rumble smashed one of his pile drivers squarely into the unfortunate mech's face.

-

"C'mon; c'mon, hurry it up!"

"Mute it; I'm goin' as fast as I can!"

"Do it faster!"

Sunstreaker's head rose, attention caught by the bickering voices drifting down the hall. He knew those identical, obnoxious voices; they belonged to the slaggin' Decepticon twins. The red one came a lot, peering at him as if he was some sort of sideshow spectacle, watching him quietly. Sometimes he was accompanied by the blue one, who would shout obscenities and taunts at him. If only they would just get close enough…His hand would be through the bars of his cell so fast they wouldn't know what hit 'em until their heads were crushed in.

"Ah-ha!" One of them crowed in triumph and Sunstreaker froze in surprise as the glowing bars of his prison flickered and faded. Suddenly, the Decepticon twins' identical faces appeared in his line of vision, one smug and self-assured, the other nervous but determined, and Sunstreaker leapt up, snarling in rage and ready to annihilate them.

"Ah-ah-ah…" The blue one wagged a finger at him, expression full of childish glee, "Would you really destroy the mech who set you free?" He was enjoying this way too much for Sunstreaker, who took a few threatening steps forward.

"You little…" He snarled, balling his hands into tight fists, optics flashing.

"Don't hurt him!" The red one yelped, shifting awkwardly and glancing up and down the dim corridors as if he expected to be jumped or shot at any minute, "Just get your brother and get the slag outta here!"

Sunstreaker paused for a second, considering his options. He _could_ slag the little fraggers, but that would seriously diminish his chance of escape and besides, he might damage his paintjob in the process. Revenge and aft kicking could wait until later; rescuing Sideswipe and getting the frag out of there was way more important .

The diminutive twins scurried after him as Sunstreaker stormed down the hall towards Sideswipe's cell, the red one still glancing around nervously. Little did the yellow Lamborghini know, but they had purposely chose Skywarp's shift as the most opportune time to bust the Autobots out, though that seemed to be doing little to quell the little red glitch's worries that something would go terribly wrong and his twitching was making Sunstreaker more edgy than he already was.

Sideswipe was curled in a corner, his back to the entrance of the cell, arms wrapped protectively around himself. Whatever dampeners the Decepticons had employed must not have been deactivated; he didn't move at all at the approaching footsteps and Sunstreaker took this as a sign that his brother either thought he was a Decepticon or hadn't even heard them coming.

He started when Sunstreaker rested a hand on his shoulder, looking up in weary resignation. The expression of desolation gave way to one of hope, quickly followed by elation as the red mech leapt to his feet and stumbled towards his brother, throwing his arms around him and curling as close as he could. Sunstreaker patted his shoulder, murmuring something too low for either of the cassettes to hear, but Sideswipe seemed to perk up at whatever it was, resting his forehead against his brother's and whispering back.

Rumble glanced away, clearly embarrassed or disgusted by the unasked for show of affection. Frenzy, on the other hand, stared openly, fascinated and almost certain that was how he would act in the same situation.

"You gotta get outta here." Rumble abruptly interrupted the touching moment, turning and shoving at the Lamborghinis with small hands, "If any one tries to comm Skywarp and he doesn't respond, some one'll be sent to make sure he's not slacking off." He scowled when Sunstreaker glared at him, "And we put our afts on the line to get you two out. If you get caught escaping, we're gonna get scrapped too."

"Why would you-" Sideswipe began, but Frenzy cut him off.

"We don't want you bozos doing the same thing to us." He explained hurriedly, glancing around again to make sure no one was coming as they shoved the Autobots down the corridor, "'Cause we know it sucks."

"And now you can't ever do it to us." Rumble smirked, gleeful.

"'Cause you owe us for saving your afts!" They finished together, identical Cheshire cat grins on their faces.

-

"Decepticons, retreat!"

Three days, six hours, twenty-seven minutes and forty seconds later, the world came screeching to a halt, then did a one-eighty.

Rumble couldn't respond to the order; he was unconscious, sprawled on the ground in an awkward position. He wasn't badly injured, just knocked out, but that was bad enough, given the fact that one of Frenzy's legs had been blown off and he couldn't move very far. He dragged himself forward, collapsing next to his twin, and trying his comm.

Static.

Slag.

He had no weapons. He had no way to communicate with the other Decepticons. He couldn't move; couldn't drag himself and Rumble to a safe place and wasn't willing to leave his brother behind. He could only lay there protectively curled beside Rumble and hope that-

"Well, well, well…What have we got here?"

Sheer panic must've been written across his face as he looked up into the optics of the Autobot smirking down at him.

_Slag._

Things had just gone from bad to worse.

-

"You can't separate them."

It was a surprising sentiment, given it had come out of Sunstreaker's mouth. He wasn't particularly known for showing Decepticons mercy nor was he known for being sentimental and soft. And yet, when they had captured the Cassetticons designated Frenzy and Rumble, he'd practically stormed Prowl's office, Sideswipe in tow, making demands about how the two were supposed to be detained.

"Why?" Prowl looked up at him, knowing there must be a very good reason for this request.

"It won't help. It'll just make things worse…" Sunstreaker frowned, arms folding across his chest plates, "The longer they're isolated, the crazier they'll be and then they can't tell you anything."

Behind him, Sideswipe was nodding earnestly, clearly in agreement with everything his brother had to say.

"How do you know this?" The second in command still wasn't ready to sit back and take their word for it. Something had happened to them when they had been taken prisoner; something they refused to talk about. He suspected it had something to do with this.

"Look, they're twins." Sunstreaker went on, "Like us. We aren't meant to be apart from each other, since we share a spark. I'd bet a case of wax they're the same way. There are things we can do so it isn't as traumatic to be kept apart and out of contact, but they're young and stupid-"

Here Sideswipe cut him off, grinning a little, "Younger and stupider than us!"

He yelped when Sunstreaker slugged him in the shoulder, not at all wilting under the glare leveled on him. The yellow twin grunted a little, then continued. "And they probably don't have any of the coping mechanisms we do. We've been stationed in different areas for long periods of time…I doubt they've been apart outside of minor battles."

"You don't want to know what we were like the first time we were separated and unable to reach each other." Sideswipe seemed to have sobered a little, and was apparently considering the seriousness of the situation. "It wasn't pretty."

For a moment, Prowl thought that perhaps they'd forgotten he was there. Sunstreaker moved a little closer to his brother, placing a surprisingly gentle hand on his arm. They looked at each other, sharing some sort of silent communication, then turned simultaneously to look at the second in command.

"It was fraggin' terrible." Sunstreaker concluded, in reference to his twin's earlier statement, "So we can't let you do that to them."

"Even though they're Decepticons." This time, it wasn't a question. Prowl didn't even allow for so much as an upward inflection to the flat statement.

"We might be Autobots…"

"…But we're twins first."

Now they were speaking together; finishing one another's sentences. That was never a good sign, as far as Prowl was concerned.

"And we look out for our own kind." They finished together, solemn.

-

They looked pathetic.

They were curled in a tangle of red and black and blue limbs, huddled together in the back of the cell. Ratchet had performed minor repairs on them, at Sideswipe's insistence ("It hurts both of them if one is hurt!) and Prime's orders, but they still looked worse for the wear. The red one's visor was dim, injured leg tucked beneath him; he was clearly frightened and holding the other's hand. No, not "holding"…"_Clutching_ it as if his very life depended on it" was a more accurate description.

The blue one (Sunstreaker and Sideswipe hadn't cared enough to learn which one was which) was trying to reassure him, putting on a tough-guy act in order to hide his own fears. "Soundwave'll come for us." He stated confidently, "He wouldn't just leave us here. The boss'll send the seekers or some one to bust us out sooner or later." It was easy to tell that bravado was all a show; he was scared out of his processor. "Besides, they're Autodorks! They won't actually hurt us…"

"At least they let us stay together…" Came the faint, wispy reply. Their voices were identical, but the red one's had a slight waver to it. Sunstreaker took a moment to ponder over what it was that made red twins more vulnerable.

"You have us to thank for that." Sunstreaker couldn't help relishing in their surprise when his rich voice rolled through the darkness. They both started, pressing tighter together and glancing over to the door of their cell nervously, and the Lamborghini thrilled a little at the thought that he continued to instill terror in his foes, no matter how tenuous their animosity was.

Sideswipe materialized behind him, peering over his brother's broad shoulder and peeking in as if to make certain for himself they were still together and somewhat okay. "We convinced the higher ups it would be in their best interest to lock you up together." He supplied helpfully.

Sunstreaker sneered through the bars at them, gloating and triumphant. "So we don't owe you anything."

And that was that.

But somehow, it was enough.

-

**Notes:** I like to tell myself that Skywarp never told any one it was Rumble who knocked him out because who would want to admit to being tricked by Rumble? He also seems like the gossipy type to me, since I can see him blackmailing other Decepticons so he could get tanked.

I decided that Frenzy is the more vulnerable, weaker cassette twin because he's not on screen nearly as often as Rumble. Therefore, he's -in my mind- not as effective or as strong as his brother. Makes sense to me, in any case.


End file.
